Hampshire - View Magazines

View
vgardening
Small pleasures
44
By Annie Bullen, a nurserywoman
and gardening journalist living in
north Hampshire
Pink-edged white hellebore
Roses sometimes surprise with winter flowers
Annie Bullen savours her garden’s precious winter blooms
It might seem strange to say that this is the
time of year to enjoy your garden. Brrrr!
No fear, I hear you say.
It’s easy to lose interest in what’s
happening out there as we sink towards the
solstice and the shortest day. But when
daylight is precious and there seems to be little
stirring in the garden, have a prowl around –
you’ll be surprised at what you find.
When times are hard, small pleasures
become big treats, and so it is when you
discover those few plants that brave the dark
days. Tiny cyclamen, tight points of pure
colour held above perfectly patterned leaves,
will catch you unawares; the odd early
primrose growing in a sheltered spot; white
Christmas roses (Helleborus niger), even a real
rose or two; early iris; the first snowdrops or
the honey-scented white flowers of Christmas
box (Sarcococca confusa).
It’s surprising just how many winterflowering
shrubs fill the cold air with a scent so
powerful it can stop you in your tracks.
Anything that is brave enough to burst into
flower at this time of year has to try every trick
in the book to attract what few insects are
about for pollination – and the most powerful
weapon is scent.
When a friend wanted to make some
winter ‘tussie-mussies’ – tightly wrapped posies
– I provided some of the flowers and foliage.
As she worked on the bright little bunches, the
room was filled with fragrance, which we soon
traced to the tiny clustered pale-pink flowers
cut from Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’. That
medium (10ft 3m) shrub has wonderful
bronze-green leaves throughout the summer. As
the thousands of flowers burst open, the leaves
fall, so that from November through to
February, the bush is a feast for eyes and nose.
A honeysuckle that flowers in winter seems
a miracle in itself, but there are two that are
highly scented. Lonicera fragrantissima is a
shrub rather than a climber and makes a bushy
plant that remains evergreen if it’s in a
sheltered position, growing to about 5ft-6ft
(2m) in height and spread. The creamy yellow
Mahonia Mahonia has has a surprising surprising
lily-of-the-valley lily-of-the-valley scent
scent